Industrial process control and automation systems are often used to automate large and complex industrial processes. These types of systems routinely include various components including sensors, actuators, and controllers. Some of the controllers can receive measurements from the sensors and generate control signals for the actuators.
Process control and automation systems also typically have hardware components participating in control and input/output (I/O) functions. In many process control and automation systems, redundancy is an important factor for helping to maintain continuous operation of an industrial process. Redundancy solutions help to ensure that if a component in a system (such as an I/O module) goes offline or encounters a fault, a redundant component can take over the operations of the faulty component.